The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas [Hardcover]

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Creative Short Stories

Some inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies its happiness.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Creative Education (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886825016
• ISBN-13: 978-0886825010
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,811,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound, November 16, 2004

By 

SunrizDC "SunrizDC" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Hardcover)

This is a story that haunts you long after you've read it and after you think you've forgotten it. I think that it is a perfect parallel for The Giver. Rather than distribute normal life pains and anguish among a society, only one is chosen to suffer, allowing the remainder of society to experience utopia.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ones who RUN away, July 1, 2008

By 

Adeba (cleveland, ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Hardcover)

It's curious that so many reviewers identify so uncritically with those who walk away. I think that is the base-note of the story - having enough wit to see wrong but not enough imagination/courage to change it.

A friend of mine teaches this story in college. There is a goose-bump moment when one student comprehends why the story is named what it is and what it is actually naming. The ones who walk away are defined not by their refusal to be cruel but by their refusal to do anything about it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep your brain alive, October 24, 2005

By 

Alessandro Ussia "http://ussia.freehostia.com/" (Bologna, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Hardcover)

This short story place the reader in front of a fantastic city of happiness. However, this is not a fairy tale, and if only you go deeper (no great effort, I ensure you, as this is the goal of the writer) you will start wondering about the sense of happiness and sorrow, good and evil, life and death. There is no simple explaination of these themes, nor a simple corrispondence between fictional and real conceps. If you need an explanation, this is not the place to look. But if you want a suggestion, read this story, because it's worth it.